Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah addressed the 71st Plenary Session of the North Eastern Council in Shillong on Friday.
In his address, Amit Shah claimed that the last 10 years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been the most significant for the development of the Northeast in the 75 years since independence.
He said that in these 10 years under the leadership of Modi, not only the distance from the Northeast to Delhi and the rest of India has been reduced due to the creation of infrastructure, but the difference of hearts has also reduced.
He said that the Northeast, which was struggling with various ethnic, linguistic, border and extremist groups related problems, has also had the beginning of a fresh and durable era of peace in these 10 years. Shah said that if these 10 years for the Northeast are compared with the 75 years after the country’s independence, then this decade will definitely be considered as the golden period of the Northeast.
He said that “we have always considered the Northeast as an important part of India. During the time of Atal ji, by giving it priority, a separate ministry was created for the Northeast and today under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the three mantras of Act East, Act Fast and Act First are being implemented. Along with this, impetus is being given to the Northeast by giving priority to it in all the ministries of the Government of India”.
The Union Home Minister also said that in the 50 years of its establishment, the North Eastern Council (NEC) has increased the pace of development of the region by providing a policy-related platform to all the states and simplifying the solutions to their problems.
He said that in these 50 years, more than 12,000 kilometres of roads have been constructed in this region, 700 MW power plants have been established and many institutes of national excellence have also been established under the guidance of NEC.
Shah added that under the leadership of Modi, the role and scope of NEC has been increased under the Act East Policy.
He further said that in the last few years, the Modi government has achieved significant success in solving the problems of law and order, insurgency and borders in this region.
Along with this, work has also been done to promote the use of technology in administration by using North-Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC). He said that the language, culture, food, attire and natural beauty of Northeast will give a great boost to this region in global tourism.
Amit Shah also said that when Prime Minister Modi had come to the Plenary session of NEC in 2016, it was for the first time after 40 years that the Prime Minister of the country was presiding over this meeting. He added that after this, Modi visited Northeast more than 50 times in the last 10 years and made the priorities of the government very clear to the entire country.
He said that Union Ministers have also visited Northeast more than 500 times. The Central Government, with the ‘Whole of Government Approach’, has not only worked to enrich the pride, languages, culture, literature, music, costumes and food of the Northeast but has also worked towards giving entire India an opportunity to get acquainted with these features.
The Union Home Minister then said that the Modi government has also taken many steps in the last 10 years to establish peace and stability in the Northeast. He said that the NEC Year Book - 2024 has also been released today. Shah urged all the states to control the Gross Fiscal Deficit and said that Manipur, Assam, Nagaland and Tripura have made commendable efforts in this direction.
He said that “we will have to give thrust to create a flood-free and drug-free Northeast and strengthen water management by using NESAC”. By creating big lakes to absorb rain water, “we can attract tourism and can also strengthen the drinking water and irrigation system,” he added.
Amit Shah said that to take “our criminal justice system into the 21st century, 3 new laws have been brought under the leadership of Modi ji and after their notification, within 3 years our criminal justice system will become the most modern and scientific criminal justice system in the whole world”.
The Union Home Minister said that from 2004 to 2014, a total of 11121 violent incidents took place in the Northeast. It declined by 73 per cent to 3114 from 2014 to 2023. Deaths among security forces dropped by 71 per cent from 458 to 132, while civilian deaths declined by 86 per cent.
He further said that the incidents of insurgency have come down because in the last 5 years more than 8900 cadres of militant groups have surrendered and have joined the mainstream and this has given a message to the entire country that peace and prosperity are interconnected and without them the states cannot develop.
Shah added that to bring peace and stability in the Northeast, the Modi government has signed nine agreements and through these, many pending issues related to law and order have been successfully resolved.
He said that except some parts of Assam and Manipur, 75 per cent of the areas covered under Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in 2018 have been removed from it.
The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that the Modi government has allocated Rs 4,800 crore for the year 2022-23 to 2025-26 for the Northeast and there is an increase of about 162 per cent in the budget.
He said that the 10 per cent Gross Budgetary Support Scheme has greatly benefited the development of the Northeast. An allocation of Rs. 1500 crore has been made in PM-DevINE (Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North Eastern Region) for 2022-23 and Rs 6600 crore for 2025-26. An Inter-ministerial task force has been formed for agriculture, eight ropeways have been taken up under the National Ropeway Development Programme, and the budget of the DoNER Ministry has increased by 153 per cent.
Under the National Edible Oil Mission, Rs 234 crore have been allocated in the Northeast alone to give priority to palm oil. Along with this, 32 projects worth Rs 1713 crore have been approved under the Special Infrastructure Development Plan of Northeast. Among the achievements of North Eastern Development Finance Corporation, schemes worth Rs 5,490 crores have been approved from January 2023 to December 2023.
He said that under the SAMBHAV scheme, work is being done to provide basic facilities to 75 Gram Panchayats and councils of 42 districts of eight states.
The Union Home Minister said that “we should increase the use of NESAC and it can be used to make disaster, water management and administration people-oriented and modern”.
He said that the Modi government has also done infrastructure expansion in the Northeast. In the last 10 years, the Modi government has invested Rs 81,000 crores in railways, Rs 48,000 crores in road connectivity and 5,196 km long roads have been constructed in the Northeast under the Bharat Mala project. Under the UDAN scheme, eight new airports have been constructed and 71 new air routes have been started in these 10 years.
Shah said that if Northeast becomes self-reliant in organic products, dairy farming, fishing and egg production, then 13 lakh people can be given employment in these 4 sectors alone.
Shah also said that development of the region alone is not enough, but along with the region, there should also be development of the individual and for this Industrial production and agriculture are the only options.
Shah then said that when India is going to become a 5 trillion-dollar economy, the Northeast should also set a target of giving its lion’s share in this effort and when the whole of India becomes completely developed and self-reliant in 2047, then our Northeast will also become fully developed and self-reliant.
